Jordan Safe and Pacific Country – Journey for you

On tour between archaeological sites and desert

Text and photos of Anna Maria Catano

The water is the Archè, or the principle. The substance from which everything originates preached the philosopher Thales, one of the seven wise of antiquity. The Alfa and the Omega of life. The Baptismal font of Bethany Today it is part of the kingdom of Jordan. Just there Jesus of Nazareth wanted to be baptized: “At the lowest point on the planet but the closest to the sky”. In a desolate land along the banks of the Giordano river, that desert where the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, settled on the ground. Blessed land, a place that captures the soul.

Al-Maghtas – in Arabic “immersion”- is the “Bethany beyond the Giordano“Narrated by the Gospels. For centuries it was the stop of the Christian pilgrimage that winds from Jerusalem along the river to Monte Nebo. A depression not far from the dead Sea that the geologists indicate as the lowest place on the land, 400 meters below sea level. Only in the nineties, however, the source was definitively identified by archaeologists – including the Franciscan Father Michele Piccirillo – He lived and where the man of Nazareth was baptized.

The Jordanian population is for the 97% Muslim But religious tourism is considered a priority for the country’s economy. Churches and mosques enjoy the same tax breaks. And the Catholic Church of Baptism was consecrated in Bethany on January 10 of this year in presence by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican Secretary of State, and Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Patriarch of Jerusalem. Made where there was a mined field it is able to accommodate up to 1200 pilgrims.

“We want to build bridges of friendship and peace” says the general manager of Baptism siteArmenian Rustom mkhjian that has been dedicating all its energy for this place for twenty years. “Christians are a small but essential part of the Jordanian population. Ours is a country that wants to be a messenger of harmony and peace”.

Bethany, a place of rebirth, is actually a portion of arid desert. A path, between rocks, brushwood and swarm trees, shows pilgrims the path to descend to the baptismal font. On sight of an eye, the horizon is interrupted only by the domes of other Byzantine, Orthodox, Coptic churches and by the thin green line of the course of Giordano. In that desert, Prophets, Saints and Hermit found a house. And it is no coincidence that the three great monotheistic religions were born precisely among arid stonyds where he seems impossible.

The Kingdom Hashemita of Jordancurrently governed by King Abdullah II, is today a safe state where peaceful coexistence between Christians and Muslims is normal. A stable country that has taken the path of modernity without hesitation in an area of ​​the world that is anything but quiet. “Jordan is a safe country and has never been involved in regional conflicts,” explains Abdelrazzaq Arabiyat, general manager of the Jordan Tourism Board. “We would like to underline it strongly to reassure Italian visitors and invite them to visit the sites of our cultural heritage where they will find a warm welcome and high -level services”.

Amman is a lively and cosmopolitan capital where almost half of the 11 million Giordani live. An urban context, a vast metropolis that, however, still retains that pinch of “Middle Eastern Sapor” which fascinates the holidaymakers of every part of the world.

To concretely grasp the dimensions of a coexistence finally possible, it is interesting to go to AS Salt, northwest of Amman, where there is the sepulcher of the biblical Job. Unesco awarded it “City of tolerance and urban hospitality”. Perrocated on a hill is a ruffled mix of shops, clubs and coffee where hookah still smokes and where men spend the hours play “missed” with strange wooden pawns. While women, at the bazaar, knead bread and cook it in front of the patrons.

And then away, we start in search of the lost city. Petra It is another magical place that it is difficult to describe in words. For the second time, after Bethany, the emotion leaves you breathless. Leaving the Siq – the high and narrow rocky slit almost two kilometers long that allows access to the archaeological site – the majestic facade of the treasure is imposed.

Mysteries and legends envelop the history of Pink city which was the capital of the Kingdom of Nabatei. What is certain is that from the water of life we ​​move on to the spectacular commemoration of death. The treasure, entirely excavated in the sandstone, was certainly a funeral construction. The symbols of the nabate gods that accompany the souls of the deceased between midsusa heads and winged victories are evident on the facade.

Instead, it is the reason why the city was then completely forgotten and nobody heard about it anymore. Until 1812 when a Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardseems to be disguised as wandering Arabic, he had it led to it. Beyond the treasure you walk among hundreds of tombs dug in the reddish rock, bas -reliefs, temples, colonnades, the remains of a Byzantine church and a large Roman theater capable of welcoming 7000 people. For the most willing then hundreds of steps lead to Ed deir, the monastery. It is difficult to arrive up there but it’s really worth it.

Petra as a whole is undoubtedly the most impressive tourist attraction of Jordan, currently also cataloged as one of the Seven new wonders of the world.

But the Jordan It is above all desert, a fascinating, arid world of red stone wrapped in clouds of sand and wind and enlightened, at night, only by the starry firmament. The Wadi Rum That Lawrence of Arabia It describes in the book “The seven pillars of wisdom”, via caravan populated by camels and Bedouins, which today offers the tourist tended fields well camouflaged in the landscape. At Wadi Rum Bubble Luxotels sleeps inside the compressed air “bubbles” with the transparent ceiling. With the stars who are looking at.

Still north of the country, Jerash It is an impressive Roman archaeological site, cross between the West and the East. And Aqaba, on the Red Sea, a seaside resort with its beaches and tropical fish the ideal place to practice marine sports.

Useful info: the Jordan Pass (75 Jordanian dinars) can also be purchased online with a minimum stay of three overnight stays and includes visa (40 dinars) discounts and entrances to 40 tourist sites. (www.jordanpass.jo)